


keep up (sun versus stars)

by regionalsky



Series: run. [2]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: I mean, I promise you might like it, I think I know where it's going, M/M, Read, ack this is so out of my comfort zone but I'm TRYING I PROMISE, it's part two so read the first part, it's so short, just try it, not really - Freeform, read it, sci-fi kind of, this is good i think, we'll see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 10:06:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12909678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regionalsky/pseuds/regionalsky
Summary: running, now, but the season is almost over.the tree, then the riverbank. one is never safe.jump, crack, but this time, it ends with walking.





	keep up (sun versus stars)

**Author's Note:**

> not gonna lie when I wrote the first part I had no idea where this was going and I was lowkey hoping it wasn't going to get any attention but two things happened:  
> 1) it got some attention  
> 2) I actually have a cool idea! I was at a record shop, because they have Sam's Town with a poster, and I saw a cover of a random album.   
> enjoy, friends, and comment shit. Don't even care if it's about the story. I want to hear about you, or your day, or whatever comes to mind.  
> It all helps! Any of it!

The mud was slick and I ran, I ran. 

It wasn't really mud. Just deep, thick sand. My heels slipped.

Last time I saw you, it was early summer. I almost smiled, because you reminded me of the tree. My tree. The last truly safe place I had known.

Then again, you'd taken it away. You'd taken it all away. All I had was the photograph in my pocket.

You followed me, screaming sounds. I didn't want to understand. I tried to ignore you.

"Originals", they called us. Like it was something good. They were the "returners", not the abandoners.

My parents called them the abandoners. They were myths, almost. It had been hundreds of years of history since they'd left us. My family had chosen to stay, and we became stronger. Smarter. Better at coexisting.

The rest of the humans, like you, left. On to new lands, the new world and old world. Left us to die of whatever we got ourselves into, because we were obviously inferior. Starvation or disease would kill us first; if it didn't the radiation would eventually, anyways.

You were wrong. All of you. We survived, and they picked me to talk to you.

I wasn't supposed to tell you anything, but I was supposed to learn. They sent person after person, and I stayed by my tree. Then you came. I left. You tried to find me. I left my family, my parents, long before I was supposed to.

We count age by the rotation of crops, without technology. Technology is the evil of the world. We are stronger, but not as strong as we could have been. If the abandoners, the rich, hadn't blown up our world and left. We could have lived off an entire planet of green.

I had lived four wheat-cycles, eight cassava-cycles. That wasn't how you counted- I had read the books. You counted in Earth revolutions, even if you lived on other planets. It was weird.

I wondered how many revolutions you had seen on my own planet, even on your ship. It had been half a rotation since you had landed your ships, your giant ships, that I had only seen drawings and carcasses of before. There were old steel frames littered throughout the jungle, smaller ships.

You couldn't keep up. I knew this planet; you were born surrounded by metal and stars. I was born into the arms of the jungle, running and learning. You'd learned from books, from electronics, and I'd learned from the scars across my body.

I hated you, somewhat. You knew what I was capable of. You knew what you were not supposed to know. It was your fault that I had failed. I had to hide my family, my people from you. I went on a run to the edges of the jungle and hid, leading your people after me. They had small landships, guns, jets. I had my feet and knowledge.

It'd been months, but you stumbled upon me, buried in leaves. Kicked me out of my sleep. I left everything I had build at the riverbank and ran on foot, made you run on foot. You'd found me by accident, because I was always moving. You didn't know where I was. You just did your normal rotation, and I forgot.

You'd seen what was by me, even if you fell. You'd learned enough from it, seen the edible food. Even if you hadn't seen it, you had a camera on you. Implanted. They would see. You couldn't get away.

You were still on foot, and I had a knife in my hand. Could I kill you?

I blinked. No, even if I wanted to. Then I would sink down to your level.

Breathing heavily, I pushed even faster, turning up a hill. If I could get enough of a lead, I could trap you. 

Protected by the foliage, I ran faster. You were losing me. 

I scaled a short rock face, clinging to small creases with the tips of my fingers. At the top, I lied down, closing my mouth so you wouldn't hear me breathe.

If you weren't born here, it was hard to pick out the sounds of a human from the sounds of the rainforest, but you had cameras and technology I didn't know the extent of. All I knew was that when your eyes were closed, so were the cameras. I couldn't just bind you; I had to knock you out. 

There weren't any rocks, so I let the knife slip from my sweaty hand. Your feet pounded on the dark soil, finally catching up to me. 

Frustrated, your eyes darted around the small clearing. I knew you would see me soon, so I jumped. You turned just in time to put out an arm, making me land badly on a foot. I screamed through clenched teeth, then shoved you to the ground. You landed on your stomach, but quickly flipped over. I was on you in seconds; pinned your legs down with my body weight, then your hands with my knees. You thrashed wildly, reaching for the gun at your hip. I grabbed it and threw it across the clearing.

Bucking your hips up, you screamed in your accent, "get off, you fucking savage!"

I snarled and elbowed you in the face. Blood gushed out of your nose. You looked at me with wild eyes, still frantically kicking your legs.

Pressing a forearm to your throat, I pushed my face into yours.

"Don't  _ ever  _ call me a savage again," I growled, forcing my arm harder. You gasped for air, eyes bugging out. I waited until I saw the life fade out of your eyes, then released.

Pressing my head to your chest, I could hear your heart beating. Good. I hadn't stooped down to your level. 

My ankle barely could bear weight, but I grit my teeth to deal with it. I pulled a leaf off a nearby tree and tied it around your eyes, then hoisted you over my shoulders. I would hear your breathing change when you woke up. 

Squinting my eyes at the low sun, I started into the thick trees. 


End file.
